This invention relates to chairs used for seating patients for treatment by therapists and more particularly to portable treatment chairs that may be quickly and easily folded into a compact, easily carried condition facilitating use of the device for in home treatment of patients.
For many years adjustable and folding chairs for use by therapists in treating patients with physical ailments and emotional and physical stress have been available. More recently with the emphasis on in home or office treatment, the need for light weight, foldable, easily set up and taken down, yet rugged and very stable chairs has become apparent. Various prior art devices have been suggested over the years but have been relatively heavy with limited adjustability and have been difficult to break down into easily carried and transportable form. A good discussion of the prior art is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,078.
There thus exists a need for a portable therapy chair that can be quickly and easily folded into a compact form that may be easily carried by one person in one hand and readily placed in a car or other vehicle for transportation to the patient""s place of treatment.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a portable therapy chair that overcomes the limitations of the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a therapy chair that is light weight yet may be folded flat, within the plane of the main frame of the chair, for carrying somewhat in the fashion of a brief case in one hand by a therapist.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lightweight portable therapy chair that when set up is stable and safe to use for patient treatment.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a lightweight, portable, and foldable therapy chair that has three sets of pairs of pivotally connected arms which are in turn pivotally joined at one end to the frame of the chair to form legs seat, knee, and arm rests for the patient and yet may be folded flat within the chair frame for stowage and transport.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a lightweight, portable and foldable therapy chair that uses a minimum number of standard parts to provide a safe and comfortable seating for a patient during treatment.
These and other and further objects are achieved in one embodiment of the invention in which a an elongated pair of frame members are joined together by at least two cross members and have three sets of pivotally joined arms pivotally mounted at one end on said frame members together with another pair of arms pivotally mounted adjacent one end of said frame member and joined by a cross member, to form support legs, seat, arm chest, and head rest portions for a patient during treatment.